McHENRY – Craig Cone is celebrating 25 years in a career that goes back to love at first sight.

Cone was 16 in 1963 when he bought from a classmate a 1954 Corvette – only the second model year that General Motors offered the venerable automobile. But his father made him sell it out of fear that the hot rod would kill the teenager.

He sold it for $200. It’s now worth a lot more than that – Cone says you’d be hard pressed to find a part to a 1954 Corvette cheaper than $200. And while Cone said he never let his dad live it down, his dad did set him on the road to where he is now. His McHenry-based business, CC Vette, is celebrating its 25th anniversary repairing and restoring Corvettes.